Police shoot dead Philippine massacre suspect

Cotabato, Feb 9 (AFP) Philippine police today said they had shot dead a suspect in the 2009 killings of 58 people, the country's worst political massacre, after he hurled a grenade and fired a pistol at them. Maguid Amil resisted arrest after being approached by policemen in the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao yesterday, Senior Superintendent Melecio Mina said. The grenade did not explode but officers fired back, killing Amil, he added. Maguindanao police chief Senior Superintendent Rodelio Jocson said the policemen survived because Amil apparently forgot to pull the grenade's pin. "He must have gotten flustered. He did not pull out the pin before he threw it at the policemen," said Jocson. Elsewhere in Maguindanao yesterday, another suspect, Nasser Guia, was arrested by police acting on a tip-off, Mina said. Both Guia and Amil were allegedly part of the private army of the powerful Ampatuan clan who stopped a rival political group's convoy and herded dozens to an isolated hillside where they were murdered. "Both Amil and Guia were among those who flagged down the convoy in November, 2009 and were among those who herded the victims to... The massacre site," said Mina, citing eyewitnesses. The killing of members of the rival clan, lawyers, journalists and even by-standers, was apparently intended to prevent a rival candidate from running against an Ampatuan in elections in May 2010. The massacre shocked the nation, forcing then president Gloria Arroyo to crack down on her former allies, the Ampatuans. (AFP) NKP ASY 02091518 NNNN